


Day Off

by thatsoccercoach



Series: Which Door? [45]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Family Fluff, family chaos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-05-21 16:10:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14918594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsoccercoach/pseuds/thatsoccercoach
Summary: Claire gets a day off and Jamie is left with the children. All of them.





	Day Off

                                                                   

Jamie hadn’t been alone with all four children for more than an hour or so. Until today. His sister had mentioned taking Claire out for the day but he hadn’t thought she literally meant _that_ day.

“Yer wife canna stay home all the time! She needs to get out and she needs somebody to take her,” Jenny had stated in a tone that brooked no argument. “We’ll be gone all day so ye ought to prepare yerself.”

She’d blown through the door and greeted Faith and Brianna with hugs before shrugging out of her denim jacket and tossing it on the coat tree. Her stylish flats were flicked toward the mat by the door and her purse hit the floor with a thunk. Finally she set her keys in the bowl on the table in the entryway where the Frasers always kept theirs, and marched into the house leaving a puzzled and surprised Jamie at the front door.

Claire, _the woman had known all along_ , had kissed Jenny on the cheek and handed her a cloth then Fergus whose eyes were only part way open as he was sleepy, fed, and seemingly content.

“I’ll just go get changed then,” she smiled and headed for the laird’s room. “Jamie?” she abruptly turned back as if she’d just now remembered her husband of more than five years. “You’ll be fine alone, won’t you? They’re all well-rested and happy today and they’re really not all that difficult to take care of on your own.” The way she finished her final sentence sounded like more of a question, but she went off to get ready anyway. Jamie followed like a puppy after his master, scooping Willa up on the way out of the kitchen.

He stood there, watching, as she rambled off a list of instructions and words of wisdom while changing. His wife was perfection and she was more than distracting. She grabbed skin tight jeans and slid them on over her long, lean legs, giving a smug smile when she was able to button them.

“Look at that! Only seven weeks later after baby number three and they still fit!” she thrilled.

“Aye,” was all he could muster along with a look of longing.

“Oh, Jamie, don’t look at me like that,” she smiled in a way that, in fact, implied that he really _should_ look at her like that. “You’ll all be just fine. Every one of us will have a lovely day!”

She proceeded to choose a blouse with small ruffles as an accent. Clasping her bra, she turned toward Willa and Jamie to slip the top over her head and adjusted everything one last time before grabbing some shoes from their wardrobe.

Watching his wife _getting_ dressed was far less fascinating than the opposite process, Jamie pondered.

“Ooh, jewelry,” she whispered happily. Opening up her jewelry box she dug around and extricated two pairs then held them up before her husband and youngest (and sleeping) daughter. “Which pair?” She turned one way, then the other, holding them up to her ears.

“Ah, I dinna ken,” he quirked an eyebrow in confusion. “Mebbe the ones with the dangly bits?”

“Dangly bits?” she snorted. “Yes, darling, I do love the dangly bits. Fun to play with, those are.”

And with that, she was gone. He knew that she’d given him instructions. He knew that he _could_ take care of the children like she did every single day. But he felt a bit as if he was fraying at the seams with the abruptness of it all.

He gently placed a slumbering Willa between two pillows on their bed and scrubbed his hands over his face. If he was going to stay on top of everything while his wife was out he’d have to stay ahead of the game. Laundry. Claire folded it every morning. Surely if he began that, he’d have a good start. He padded downstairs to grab a load of laundry.

Faith sat on the piano bench, gently tapping the keys and singing to herself and to Fergus who was in the infant swing. Both were content for the moment. Faith would entertain herself and her siblings forever. He’d stop her soon and give the lasses pancakes from yesterday’s double-batch for breakfast. And then Brianna was…

Bree was gone.

Piercing the calm was a shrill screech from upstairs. Jamie’s blood froze in his veins and he ran, taking the stairs two at a time. Brianna crouched on the bed beside Willa who was kicking her spindly legs in the jerky manner of newborns.

“Wha-?” he burst out.

“Willa am _so_ happy she are havin’ feet!” Brianna smashed her hands on her chubby cheeks and grinned at him, blissfully unaware of the fear she’d just caused.

Faith’s head popped around the corner like a miniature Claire, ready to intervene if necessary and fix any situations that might have needed her attention.

“Bree,” she gently scolded. “You can’t scream like that, lovey,” She looked at Willa then at Jamie, who must have looked frazzled because the remainder of her speech focused on his well-being. “Doing that makes Da’s heart all jumpy when he hears you!”

“Aye, lass. It does,” Jamie scooped Brianna up and looked her in the face. “Also, ye ken ye arena supposed to be climbing all over while Willa is sleepin’,” he reminded.

“Okay,” she huffed. “But Da,” she gasped out in enthusiasm, “But Da, she are _really_ cute, aye?” Bree tilted her head like a little bird.

“She is, Smudge,” he kissed her curly head and set her down just in time for the doorbell to ring prompting another ear-splitting scream from her. She took off like a shot. He shook his head. “Bree, dinna open that door wi’out me!”

“You go on, Da,” Faith looked at him seriously. “I’ll make sure Willa falls back asleep and you can watch Bree and answer the door.”

“Ye are a wee treasure, my Faith,” he bent to look her in the eye.

He went back down the stairs wondering how Claire did this every day. He was already tired and he hadn’t even given the girls breakfast yet. Bree was at the door already, jumping, if you could call it that, up and down on the mat. Jamie scooted her off to the side and opened the door.

There stood his godfather, disgruntled look across his bearded face.

“Jenny told me to be here today. Didna tell me why.” His short, truncated sentences fit perfectly with his character. Though he may have been scruffy-looking and blunt in his speech, he was tender-hearted and loved the Frasers and their children fiercely. Bree attached herself to his lower leg immediately.

“‘Tis a good thing ye came, godfather,” Jamie began to relax as Murtagh came into the house. “We need another set of hands.”

“Aye? Weel,” he sighed. “I suppose ‘tis nice to be needed.”

* * *

“Did you have a lovely day with the children and Murtagh?” 

His wife breathed the question onto his chest where her cheek was pressed against him as they lay together in bed that night.

“Aye, though I dinna ken how ye manage all that goes on in a day, Sassenach.” He paused. “How _do_ ye then?”

“Oh,” she mumbled lazily. “I just do.”

“Nay, Claire,” he pulled away a bit so as to see her while he spoke. “I shouldna have been so lost today. I should have been more aware of what ye do, more appreciative, more involved.”

“Oh, love, don’t you know that you _do_ already know those things. You already _do_ those things! We’ve been a family of four for hardly any time at all and in that time, you’ve cared for us in ways that I couldn’t have done.”

She propped her chin against him and looked him in the eye. “You would never do or say anything to me just because you are working outside the home, making money and supporting our family and I’m not. You always value me for who I am and for _everything_ I bring to _us._ The same goes for you. Just because I am taking care of our children more often at the moment, doesn’t mean you’re less able or needed. We’re both doing what is best for our family right now.”

“I dinna want ye to think I am above it though, Claire. Not ever. Nothing is more important that what ye are doing,” he insisted. “Och, I dinna want ye to think that I’d think less of ye if ye went back to work either! I dinna even ken what I’m trying to say.” He flopped his head back on the pillow and scrubbed a hand over his face.

“Not that I’m infinitely wise,” his wife murmured. “Not yet anyway, but I think that we’re both at our best when we do things together.”

“Aye. Though we each have strengths, we’re stronger together.” He continued sagely, “As it goes, ‘Two are better than one. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?’” 

“Well, we know we have that last bit managed.”

 

 

[Photo](http://cozyandkin.com/)


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